Bhubaneswar: Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has offered to establish
COVID19 vaccination centers at five healthcare facilities in Angul, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh districts. MCL Director (Personnel) Keshav Rao in his letter to the Odisha government, has offered
to establish COVID19 vaccination centres and sought help of the government for the purpose. A company release here said MCL will establish the vaccination centres for vaccinating company employees, contractors workers, their family members and peripheral population.
MCL has taken a series of steps at an estimated cost of over Rs 32 crore in the first quarter of current financial year to strengthen the fight against COVID19 surge, besides ensuring increased quantity of coal to power plants.
MCL had spent Rs 135 crore in different Covid19 mitigating activities in Odisha during last financial year 2020-21, and has further extended its support to state government in establishing COVID19 hospitals and providing other infrastructure support. The company is procuring 200 oxygen cylinders and concentrators to help Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundergarh and Angul districts to combat Covid-19 pandemic.
Anticipating a rise in power demand in the country, the company ensured more than 4.25 lakh daily supply of coal from its mines during the current fiscal, which was 15 per cent higher than the dispatch of dry fuel during the same period last financial year 2020-21.
MCL CMD P K Sinha has stressed on regular health monitoring of coal warriors, who are under treatment at various hospitals as well as at their residences. MCL has lost 18 employees to COVID19 pandemic, while 420 officers and staff are still under treatment for covid infection.
MCL, which contributes about 20 per cent to the total coal production in the country, has supported the state government and district authorities to set-up and run COVID19 hospitals with a total 1405 bed capacity, including 189 in ICUs.The company is also conducting sanitization drives in peripheral localities, using fog cannons.